50 A CHEMICAL TRIAD. 



proves that the potato could be infinitely divided, were it not 

 for the imperfection of our senses and our tools, but merely 

 (which is quite another thing) that the space occupied by 

 that potato might be thus divided. 



If atoms of matter be so inconceivably small, how then 

 could people expect to see them ? and if not seen, how could 

 their existence be demonstrated? The ancients could get 

 no proof; so they allowed the discussion to drop. Even in 

 later times, our own illustrious Newton, though a believer 

 in the existence of atoms, could not prove them to exist. 

 He hoped they might hereafter be rendered visible by high 

 microscopic power, but that hope has never been realised, 

 and no one at this time believes that it ever will be realised. 

 After Newton's time, the discussion dropped once more ; and 

 may be said to have remained in abeyance until the cele- 

 brated labours of Dalton proved the existence of atoms by 

 every testimony short of rendering them visible. We can 

 never hope to see them, they are so very, very small. 



I must now, reader, find a tangible illustration, else you 

 will not get your promised peep into the enchanted regions 

 of the atomic theory. 



You and I, we will assume, are schoolboys for the nonce. 

 We have a bag before us, that bag containing leaden bullets. 

 Dipping my hand into the bag, I withdraw a handful of 

 leaden bullets, throw them into the scale-pan, and weigh 

 them ; their weight we find to be (say) three ounces. We 

 take another dip, and proceed exactly as before; but the 

 weight is now (say) five ounces. Once more, six ounces. 

 Once more, four ounces; and yet again, two ounces. That 

 will do. Let us now see what comes of it : 



07. 



Experiment V 2 



I 3 



iv. . . . ' . . . 4 



IT. .. ..... 5 



in. 6 



